Culture manifestations are important Vienna, but music lovers in particular
will be in ecstacy. Vienna nurtured the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn,
Schubert, Brahms and Mahler, among others.

Vienna was the showpiece of the all-conquering Habsburg dynasty. Monumental
edifices line the city centre, world-class museums burst with treasures,
white stallions strut their way down mirrored halls and renowned orchestras
and angelic choirboys perform in lavish concert halls. Vienna has plenty
of lower-brow pleasures too - walks in the woods, splish-splashing high
jinks on the river, slap-up indulgent evenings in its renowned wine taverns.

Vienna was founded initally as a Celtic settlement called Vindomina. It
was strategically located, with the Danube river to the east, forest covered
hills to the north and west, and a smaller tributary of the Danube to
the south. It was later captured by the Romans, and used as a fortified
camp against the Tutons. The Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, resided there
for a time to assist in the military campaign. When the Romans left, the
region was fought over by several Slavic tribes, adding a mixture of ethnic
groups to the region.

After the Romans withdrew (late 4th cent.), it rapidly changed hands
among the invaders who overran the region. The Magyars, who gained possession
of Vienna early in the 10th cent., were driven out by Leopold I of Babenberg
, the first margrave of the Ostmark (see Austria ). Construction on Vienna's
noted Cathedral of St. Stephen began c.1135.

Several decades later Henry Jasomirgott, first duke of Austria, transferred
his residence to the town, made it capital of the duchy, and erected a
castle, Am Hof. The town was fortified by Ottocar II of Bohemia, who conquered
Austria in 1251. In 1282, Vienna became the official residence of the
house of Hapsburg . The city was occupied (1485-90) by Matthias Corvinus
of Hungary and was besieged by the Turks for the first time in 1529. In
the critical second siege (1683) by the Turks under Kara Mustafa and their
Hungarian allies under Thokoly, the city, heroically defended by Ernst
von Starhemberg , was on the verge of starvation when it was saved by
John III (John Sobieski) of Poland.

Early in the 18th cent. a new circle of fortifications was built around
the city, and many magnificent buildings were erected. Bernhard Fischer
von Erlach drew up new plans for the Hofburg (the imperial residence)
and built the beautiful Karlskirche; Johann von Hildebrandt designed St.
Peter's Church, the Belvedere (summer residence of Prince Eugene of Savoy),
and the Kinsky Palace; together they planned the Schwarzenburg Palace
and the winter residence of Prince Eugene. Empress Maria Theresa (reigned
1740-80) enlarged the old university, founded in 1365, and completed the
royal summer palace of Schönbrunn , started by her father, Charles
VI (1711-40). Joseph II (1765-90) opened the Prater, a large imperial
garden, which now contains an amusement park, to the public. Haydn, Mozart,
Beethoven, and Schubert lived in Vienna and gave it lasting glory.

In 1805 and 1809, Vienna was occupied by Napoleon. In the early 19th
cent. Vienna was famous for the waltzes of Joseph Lanner and the Strauss
family, and for the farces of Nestroy, the comedies of Raimund, and the
tragic dramas of Grillparzer. During the revolutions of 1848 , revolutionists
in Vienna forced Metternich to resign, but they were eventually suppressed
by Windischgrätz .

In the late 19th and early 20th cent., Vienna flourished again as a
cultural and scientific center. Rokitansky, Wagner-Jauregg, and Billroth
(to whom Brahms dedicated the string quartets Op. 51) worked at the General
Hospital; at the same time Freud was developing his theory of psychoanalysis.
Vienna attracted Brahms, Mahler, Richard Strauss, and Arnold Schoenberg
and his disciples, who gave it a further period of musical greatness.
Krauss, Werfel, Hofmannsthal, Schnitzler, and Wassermann dominated the
literary scene.

Vienna suffered hardships during World War I. Amidst food shortages
and revolution it became, at the end of the war, the capital of the small
republic of Austria. In 1922, Vienna became an autonomous province ( Bundesland
) of Austria. The highly successful Social Democratic city government
headed by Mayor Karl Seitz (1923-34) initiated a program of municipal
improvements. In public housing Vienna set an example for the world. Model
apartment houses for workers, notably the huge Karl Marx Hof, began to
replace the city's slums. The projects were badly damaged in the civil
war of Feb., 1934, between Viennese Socialists and the Austrian government
of Chancellor Dollfuss .

On Mar. 15, 1938, Adolf Hitler triumphantly entered Vienna, and Austria
was annexed to Germany. During World War II the city suffered considerable
damage. The Jewish population (115,000 in 1938), residing mainly in the
Leopoldstadt district (designated the official ghetto in the 17th cent.),
was reduced through extermination or emigration to 6,000 by the end of
the war. The Russian army entered Vienna in Apr., 1945. Vienna and Austria
were divided into four occupation zones by the victorious Allies. The
occupation lasted until 1955, when, by treaty, the four powers reunited
Austria as a neutral state.

Vienna became the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency
in 1957; it is the headquarters for several other international organizations,
including the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The city
also has been a neutral site for international talks, such as those between
President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev in 1961. Since the walls came
tumbling down in 1989, Vienna has found itself with a new sense of purpose
as a gateway city to Central and Eastern Europe.

Vienna's Hapsburg facade is rigorously maintained - although the last
ruling Hapsburg passed away in 1989 - but the city is increasingly forward-looking.
The 1990s were a difficult time for Austria. In 1993 Chancellor Franz
Vanitsky publicly admitted that Austrians had been 'willing servants of
Nazism'. The scars of WWII history were opened further in the new millenium:
the federal government's move to the right has been the subject of concern
for many Austrians as well as the European Union since 2000, and the government
remains the subject of close international monitoring. Nevertheless, Vienna
seems to be going through a time of renewal, shaking off its staid image
and facing the future with zest.